Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson to return for USC, Andy Enfield talks roster

Although the USC men's basketball program lost three players to the transfer portal this week and will likely lose leading scorer and rebounder Isaiah Mobley as he's widely expected to pursue the NBA, Trojans coach Andy Enfield was upbeat Friday in talking about the future of the roster.

He confirmed that starting guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson will return next season.

There had been speculation on social media about Ellis' future, but Enfield said it was never in question.

"He's coming back. He was never leaving," Enfield said in an exclusive interview with TrojanSports.com "... Boogie had a great year for us. He brings a lot of strengths to our team, and our job as a coaching staff is to help him keep getting better. He has a very intense work ethic and I think he'll be a true lead guard next year where he can really set his teammates up. His defense has improved, so we're extremely high on his development going into the offseason. I think we all think that Boogie could be an all-league player next year for us."

Ellis was second on the Trojans in scoring at 12.5 points per game and led the team with 56 3-pointers (on 37-percent shooting from beyond the arc) and 27 steals.